Wu-Tang
Wu-Tang Clan Affiliation: White Clan (aligned with Shaolin and The League of Beggars) Clan Headquarters: WuTang Shan, Hubei Province. Current Leader: Master Tianxing, Clan Leader Lost Dragon: Master Lingyun* Weapon: Master Lingyun uses a one-handed sword. Common Shorthand: WT Kung Fu Style: Wu-Tang is famous for its Tai Chi style Kung Fu which provides balanced attack and defense through contemplation and mastery over the cosmic energies of Yin and Yang. Their hand-to-hand combat system is known as Boundless Fists, and their legendary Divine Sword techniques are unmatched throughout The Land. * Master Lingyun fell in love with Lunar Umbra, a former assassin. The clan leaders are furious because Lingyun supposedly gave up all his responsibility toward Wu-Tang and disappeared for the sake of his forbidden love. Location: Wu Tang Shan, located in Hubei Province, is a breath-taking mountain range with seventy-two peaks. On Tianzhu Peak, the highest among them, sits the central Taoist monastery. There, in the courtyard, members of Wu-Tang, the Clan of Divine Sword, practice their legendary Tai Chi. Clan Overview The clan is a discipleship of Tai Chi practitioners who serve as living instruments of the divine justice inherent in The Tao, or Water Course Way, symbolized by the sacred Yin and Yang. The clan is also referred to as the “Clan of Divine Sword” because their disciples hone their minds, hearts and bodies to become as one with their swords. “I am a swordsman without peer throughout The Land!” The siren song in the heart of each Wu-Tang disciple is supreme confidence. Just as the Buddha proclaimed that he alone was most honored in The Land (a claim which requires deep contemplation to comprehend its truth), so does the Wu-Tang disciple proclaim his superior skill. Unwavering confidence, based on sound training, ensures success without fear from contemplation and guarantees victory by ignoring any obstacle blocking its achievement. “The sword kills, not the disciple.” The disciples believe that, to be a well-honed pupil, one must surrender himself and his steel to the will of The Tao, which brings unbiased justice to the world in the guise of cause and effect. Therefore, a student who has mastered the techniques of his weapon, serves merely as a capable, neutral instrument, standing ready to act against the darker intentions of his opponent. Since the disciple has freed himself of intention and does nothing but calmly react to the destructive urges of an opponent, the opponent’s death causes no bad karma. Unlike Shaolin disciples, who try to reform evil through the Buddha’s mercy and compassion, those dedicated to the precepts of Wu-Tang believe that a balanced cosmos demands justice through retribution against evil. Therefore, the Black Clans and evildoers throughout The Land are especially wary of Wu-Tang disciples. Heavenly Demon and Sacred Flower in particular have proclaimed open hostility toward Wu-Tang. “Each disciple embodies Five Elements, Three Treasures, and One Sword.” A Wu-Tang disciple’s successful path requires meditation on The Tao and the Yin and Yang, as ascribed through an understanding of The Five Elements and Three Treasures that underlie Tai Chi swordsmanship. The ultimate goal is to become an immortal instrument at one with The Tao. Style: “Divine Sword” disciples are proud, brave and, above all else, noble. A disciple would lose a limb to save a fellow disciple, duel at the slightest provocation, or bloody a commoner who dared belittle the name of the clan. Clan Slogans: “Yin and Yang have no beginning nor end, creation and destruction reside in the ways in which they bend and yield to one another.” “What is firmly grasped cannot slip away.” “One sword takes life while another gives it back.” Common Farewell: “Sound sword and sharp mind.” Membership Requirement: One needs to undergo a series of quests to become a disciple of Wu-Tang, which culminate as a prospective member reaches Cheng 1 of Opening Chi. Other clans receive disciples into apprentice roles at either Cheng 4 or 6 of Losing Self, then accept them as full disciples once they have achieved Opening Chi. But neither Wu-Tang nor Heavenly Demon take on prospective students as apprentices. Specialty Class: Since Zhang Sanfeng founded Wu-Tang, The Clan of Divine Sword, countless disciples of his lineage have become famous teachers and swordmasters. The Way of The Sword is a noble journey with four paths, upon each of which a disciple may travel, and each one leads to glory. Time honored Roles in Wu-Tang consist of Blue Dragons, Red Phoenixes, Black Turtles and White Tigers. 'Blue Dragons '(Warriors) Wu-Tang is The Clan of Divine Sword, and it has been bruited that Blue Dragons, who hold the frontlines in combat, are the reason why. They master the slow, supple techniques of Cloud Swords and the fast, unpredictable techniques of Wind Swords. They also learn Arts of Xuanxu, which neutralize negative internal energy to cultivate both mind and body. Because Life is of paramount importance, Constitution is their most important concern. Essence is harder to develop for them, and Wisdom is not as important as other attributes. 'Red Phoenixes '(Healers) Red Phoenixes utilize Hermit Arts to help and heal others, Arts of the Light to purify themselves, and Tai Chi Arts for defense. They also learn protective Chi Kung Arts of Fortitude and combative Arts of Zixiao. Those with high Wisdom are encouraged to become Red Phoenixes. Essence and Wisdom are key for this role. Constitution is harder to develop for them. 'White Tigers '(Balanced) White Tigers seek to master The Tao through diversity of skill. They train each of the various Kung Fu and Chi Kung techniques of the clan, except for sword mastery. They believe Yin and Yang have no beginning nor end, and that creation and destruction reside in the ways in which they bend and yield to one another. They emphasize Constitution and Essence, and use Kung Fu for offense and Chi Kung for defensive with equal skill. Wisdom is harder for them to develop. 'Black Turtles '(Nukers) Black Turtles are Wu-Tang's masters of Chi Kung. They are soft-spoken in nature, but steadfast in discipline. Often sent on diplomatic missions, they protect themselves with Arts of Fortitude and subdue their opponents with Arts of the Turtle. They place emphasis on Essence and Wisdom. Strength is harder for them to develop, and they are ill-suited to melee combat. Clan History After the collapse of Yuan Dynasty and the foundation of Ming Dynasty, a Shaolin disciple named Zhang Sanfeng, who had mastered the art of “No Mind,” left Shaolin Temple and began a series of walking meditations. Directionless, he wandered through the mountains, surrendering all pretense of purpose and allowing nature and destiny to guide his steps. After many days, he awoke on the bank of a stream, high on Tianzhu Peak. Upon settling in to his morning meditation, he chanced to observe a fish as it broke the water... and he was granted sudden enlightenment to The Tao. Thus illuminated, he decided to forego Shaolin and instead found his own school on the mountain’s peak. Nature had granted his secret request for a new destiny. It is said that Zhang Sanfeng used The Tao to devise the concepts of “soft internal” Kung Fu, specifically Tai Chi Chuan, which synthesized his knowledge of Confucian and Chan Buddhist philosophies with nature’s own harmony. Zhang Sanfeng was also a master of White Crane and Snake style Kung Fu as well as an expert in the art of double-bladed, straight swords. In Chinese martial arts, double-bladed straight swords and single-and-broad-bladed curved sabers are considered very different weapons, with different meanings. Swords are often associated with chivalry and orthodoxy, while sabers are often linked with a more chaotic or independent nature. Zhang Sanfeng’s master was reportedly a Hermit Poet named Xu Xuanping, of which little is known, save he was also a Taoist. Zhang Sanfeng’s main principle was that, “From ultimate softness and pliability, The Yin, comes ultimate hardness and invulnerability, The Yang.” Zhang Sanfeng gathered many pupils of talent, high moral standing and Taoist belief, who found the ascetic life of Shaolin too merciful and too burdensome. Throughout the Ming Dynasty, Wu-Tang clan has heeded the call of The Imperial Emperor to defend The Land, and enjoys the grace of its court along with Shaolin. If it had not been for the intervention of an envoy of Wu-Tang’s finest swordsman, a rogue warrior of ferocious, inhuman skill who proclaimed himself The Emperor Heavenly Demon, would have assassinated The Imperial Emperor. For that, Wu-Tang clan remains in high favor. The lineage of Wu-Tang Clan’s Tai Chi Swordmasters is meticulously recorded from Zhang Sanfeng to the clan’s current leader, Master Tianxing, and down to his own prized pupil, Master Lingyun, who would become one of the legendary Nine Dragons. "The legend of Lingyun, his Divine Sword, and The Arrow that pierced him." Many years ago, Master Tianxing, the leader of Wu-Tang clan, had dark hair and few troubles. Today his hair is white and his brow is always furrowed. Like the sacred Yin-Yang itself, all stories and all pupils carry traits of light and darkness. So it is written that a contest of swords was announced in Shiyan, a small city in Hubei Province, known for its steel manufacturing, to the South of Wu Tang Shan. As the time to recruit new disciples to Wu-Tang clan was drawing near again, The Master Tianxing brought an envoy of his followers to observe, in the hope of discovering fresh talent. In attendance was a young swordsman, barely fifteen years of age, named Jeng Lei, who was nearly denied admission due to his youth. The contest lasted six full days and boasted over four hundred individual matches. It was during the final twelve matches, each fought in tandem, that Master Tianxing became aware of Jeng Li and his tremendous raw talent. Clearly, the boy was gifted, as he hammered away at his opponent with strikes that were at once both forceful and unexpected. “We have found one,” Tianxing whispered to his advisor, Master Huanghuo. To which Huanghuo replied, “He appears to me a poor choice. Too much rage, and he relies far too heavily upon surprise attack.” Nevertheless, when the contest concluded, Jeng Lei surprised all by taking second place, and Tianxing requested to meet him. Honored beyond measure to be granted audience with Tianxing, young Jeng Lei and his father attended a dinner. Tianxing would later write that his first impression of Jeng, who sat at the far end of his table, was that of a shy, naive, pock-faced youth. As the meal concluded, Tianxing addressed the boy. “Jeng Li, do you know that in Wu-Tang we practice a discipline called No-Sword?” Jeng Li bowed his head. “No sir, I know nothing of this, but if the disciples of Wu-Tang practice it, it must be great indeed.” Tianxing nodded, then, without warning grabbed up a plum from a nearby dish and hurled it across the table at Jeng Li. Without hesitation the boy raised a single chopstick and skewered the fruit. A gasp came from the table. Tianxing smiled and said, “No sword, indeed.” And so Jeng Li was inducted into Wu-Tang’s new class of Tao Apprentices and given the clan name Lingyun. However, at the presentation ceremony, where the apprentices were presented with their wooden training swords, Tianxing interceded with a whisper to the training Sifu, Master Xuanxuan. Then Xuanxuan stepped before the boy and announced, “Lingyun, Master Tianxing has decided that you shall carry no sword. Will you relinquish your weapon?” To which Lingyun bowed solemnly, then handed back the training sword. So it was that, during the first year of training, Lingyun trained swordless alongside his fellow disciples. Again and again he was battered and bloodied during practice. But, slowly and painfully, he learned to gauge and anticipate the movements of his fellows, and thus to avoid their blows. In this way, wise Master Tianxing remained true to the warning of Master Huanghuo, and Lingyun learned to compensate his natural offensive gifts with sound defense. At the beginning of his second year, Lingyun, now fully grown, was removed from his class to become a direct pupil of Master Tianxing. He was brought into the central armory by Huangho and told he might choose any sword he pleased. A thousand different styles of blades lined the walls; Wu Shu butterfly swords forged of chromed steel, Tai Chi swords with jade hilts, Kan Dao broadswords as thin and flexible and sharp as rice paper, and a myriad more. Knowing nothing of the lineage of swords, Lingyun’s attention was drawn to a small, modest wooden box. “I want the sword that lies within this box,” Lingyun told Huangho. Huangho regarded him with fascination. “How do you know there is even a sword within?” he questioned. “I have spent my training swordless,” Lingyun answered. “But this box seems to call to me. I’ll take my chances.” “In other circumstances, I might strike you dead,” Huangho told him. “But Master Tianxing’s instructions were clear: Any sword you wished.” And as Huangho opened the box, Lingyun first laid eyes upon one of the clan’s supreme artifacts: The Blue Destiny Sword. Now, the question has often been posed: did all of Lingyun’s natural talents flourish under the tutelage of Master Tianxing, or was Lingyun truly possessed by the grandeur of The Blue Destiny Sword itself? Perhaps the truth lies in a combination within the two, as truth so often does. What is known is that within a year’s time, Lingyun achieved what no disciple since the clan’s founder, Zhang Sanfeng, had achieved: The culmination of the state of No-mindedness. It was so evident among both the disciples and Master Tianxing himself that it needed not be spoken of. Lingyun had gone to sleep one day as a proud pupil and had awoken the next with no sense of ego, desire, or even sense of membership within the clan. On the ceremony day that Master Tianxing set aside to entitle Lingyun as Master Lingyun, the young man failed to show up. Instead, they found him sitting alone outside the monastery, whittling a set of chopsticks from the branch of a tree. “Today is the day you were to receive the title of Master,” Huangho told him. “Really?” Lingyun asked, sincerely. “How did it go?” Months later, there was an announcement brought to Wu Tang Shan that a Grand Championship, sponsored by Heaven’s Gate Clan, was to be held in the name of The Imperial Emperor, and Wu Tang was ordered to send its best swordsman. “Must I go?” Master Lingyun asked. Tianxing ordered it so. The competition was held in the faraway city of Hefei, and The Master Tianxing again assembled an envoy of chosen disciples to accompany Lingyun. On the road to Hefei, their banners held high, the caravan was attacked by a full battalion of warriors from Heavenly Demon clan. This was Master Lingyun’s first experience in actual battle, and he fought admirably. It is recorded that he personally dispatched nineteen opponents. Lingyun would later record in his journal that he was deeply saddened for having slain these Heavenly Demon disciples, but that it was indeed The Blue Destiny Sword’s will, not his own. During that encounter, Master Lingyun fought his way through the wood into the Heavenly Demon’s camp, and there rescued a beautiful young captive named Tara Mayoung. Some call this meeting a blessing, some a curse, but when the two laid eyes upon one another, twin fires of passion ignited. Much to the dismay of Master Huangho, Lingyun introduced himself to Tara Mayoung not by his clan name, but by his given name, Jeng Li. He then offered her safe passage and gave up his seat in the carriage, choosing to walk alongside her. As she told Lingyun the tale of her capture and torture, Huangho listened with a discerning ear, but the boy was enrapt. Tara Mayoung was quartered at the Grand Competition as a guest of Wu-Tang in The Imperial Court’s quarters, and she was seated each day near the first row along with the women of The Union of Noble Families to observe the contest. Although Lingyun’s reputation proceded him, great wagers were placed that The Immoral Monk of Shaolin would take the grand prize. On the third day of the competition, however, The Immoral Monk did not arrive, and when a lower-classed polemaster of Shaolin replaced the Monk’s chop on the docket, the odds shifted quickly for Lingyun of Wu-Tang, who had remained so far undefeated. On the dueling ground, his victories appeared effortless, and after each match Huangho was displeased to find Lingyun’s gaze fixed upon Tara Mayoung, rather than on the ground with head bowed respectfully toward The Imperial Emperor and his court. At the final match, which was to be a contest between Hu Shanshan of The League of Beggars and Master Lingyun, Tara Mayoung was curiously absent from the stands. Lingyun was highly favored; however his straying eye as he searched for Tara brought Huangho much distress. Some say it was The Blue Destiny Sword itself that delivered the smashing blow which split Hu Shanshan’s staff in half, ending the championship, but be that as it may, Lingyun was announced the victor. As The Imperial Emperor himself strode across the dueling ground to present Lingyun with the wreath, an assassin’s arrow struck the ground between him and Lingyun. The Imperial Guard, and Wu-Tang envoy drew their swords to detect the assassin, Lingyun chanced to glimpse a woman poised with a bow atop the stands. As the Emperor was now safe under guard, Lingyun took off after the assassin. Some say he caught her, others say she had not the will to flee, and allowed herself to be caught, but all agree that, as Lingyun approached, the assassin unmasked herself. It was, of course, Tara Mayoung, and she revealed to Lingyun that she was a disciple of Sacred Flower Clan, and that her true name was Lunar Umbra. She had been tasked with assassinating The Imperial Emperor. “Your reputation precedes you as one of the greatest archers alive,” Lingyun said. “Why did you falter?” “Because,” Tara answered, “I could not risk the chance of hitting you.” As Tara Mayoung was taken into custody by The Imperial Guard, Lingyun was despondent, knowing full well that she would be sentenced to torture and execution. Master Huangho stepped up beside him and placed a knowing hand upon his shoulder. “Let her go, Lingyun,” Huangho said. “Your sword is in the service of The Imperial Emperor.” “No,” Lingyun replied. “I am Jeng Li, and my sword is in the service of my heart.” He then cut down The Imperial Guards, rescued Tara Mayoung for the second time, and spirited her away. But this was not the last The Land has heard regarding Master Lingyun, Wu-Tang’s greatest living swordsman. He would appear twice more; the first time to allegedly steal the Holy Board of Yin and Yang from Wu Tang Shan for unknown reasons. The second time would be to defend Wu-Tang’s honor at the legendary final duel of The War of Nine Dragons. Have you not heard tell about the Holy Board of Yin and Yang? It’s not so well known among young disciples. It is the most precious treasure of the Clan. I hear it's the key to learning Sword of Tai Chi Wisdom, an Art no one but Master Lingyun could accomplish. But now Lingyun's disappeared, and the Holy Board's with him, and the elders are beside themselves.